History YMMV / WingCommander

* WTHCastingAgency: Creator/FreddiePrinzeJr, Creator/MatthewLillard, and Creator/SaffronBurrows as Blair, Maniac and Angel respectively. Few found them convincing in their roles, especially when measured up against their video game counterparts. The years since have seen Prinze's casting looked back on a ''little'' more kindly, with many now agreeing that he might have been a good choice had the film been produced a decade or so later, but that the role came a little too early in his career for him to do it justice. However, Lillard's and Burrows' casting has received no such re-appraisal, with the kindest thing you're likely to hear being that Maniac's character was too badly butchered in the translation for Lillard or any other actor to save, and that Burrows would probably have been a better choice for a science or comms officer than a fighter pilot.

[[AC:Games]]

[[AC:Movie]]

* CompleteMonster: [[VideoGame/WingCommanderTheKilrathiSaga The Kilrathi Saga]]: [[AxCrazy Prince Thrakhath nar Kiranka]] is the crown prince and the [[BloodKnight most vicious]] of all the Kilrathi commanders. Ruthless [[EnfantTerrible from his youth]], Thrakhath demanded the execution of a minister who showed slight hesitation at the Terran invasion and distinguished himself with titanic bloodshed across the galaxy. As the Kilrathi [[DragonInChief commander-in-chief]] and the Emperor's heir, Thrakhath assumes more responsibility with his grandfather's infirmity, masterminding attacks across numerous systems with the intent to [[KillAllHumans exterminate humanity]] if they will not be enslaved. After capturing a squad of Terran fighters, Thrakhath summarily has them executed on the spot save for the lover of the heroic Colonel Christopher "Maverick" Blair, Angel Devereaux, whom Thrakhath personally murders with his own claws and saves the video to later taunt Blair with.

* UncannyValley: Melek's appearance changes drastically between the third and fourth games, looking absolutely nothing like he had in his first appearance by the time he resurfaces.

* WhatAnIdiot:
** An especially egregious case of this comes from Prince Thrakhath at the very start of the third game, where he executes Angel's team of covert operatives and then herself with no interrogations held regarding their infiltration of his ''homeworld''. This would come back to bite his entire race in the ass much later as we learn that they were laying down the groundwork for the Temblor Bomb strike that would ultimately spell doom for the entire Kilrathi Empire. Chalk this one up to his zealous overconfidence in the face of an enemy that seemed on the brink of defeat after a series of disastrous battles had left humanity squarely on the defensive.
** No less egregious is Maverick being wrongly charged with treason in the second game following the loss of the ''Tiger's Claw'' to Kilrathi stealth fighters, a story which, without flight recorder evidence, High Command was not willing to even consider as remotely possible. While Blair's actions can be (and are) criticized as an incompetent desperately trying to cover his own ass, Confed brass ''never explore the possibility that he could have been right'', not only leaving Maverick in disgrace but leaving ''themselves'' vulnerable to all manner of sneak attack. This state of affairs goes on until Maverick is able to bring back flight-recorder data that exonerates him, ''ten years later''.

* WhatAnIdiot: An especially egregious case of this comes from Prince Thrakhath at the very start of the third game, where he executes Angel's team of covert operatives and then herself with no interrogations held regarding their infiltration of his ''homeworld''. This would come back to bite his entire race in the ass much later as we learn that they were laying down the groundwork for the Temblor Bomb strike that would ultimately spell doom for the entire Kilrathi Empire. Chalk this one up to his zealous overconfidence in the face of an enemy that seemed on the brink of defeat after a series of disastrous battles had left humanity squarely on the defensive.

* HarsherInHindsight: ''Wing Commander III'' opens on the burning, half-sunken wreck of the ''Concordia'', your flagship from the previous game which is then deemed a "total loss". Come 2012 the ''Costa Concordia'' disaster took place, with the ship similarly marooned and damaged beyond repair off the coast of Tuscany. Could possibly be HilariousInHindsight, considering the [[BlackComedy comedy of errors]] that led to the sinking of the ''Costa Concordia.''

* MoralEventHorizon: Geoffrey Tolwyn was never an especially nice guy, but attempting to genetically purify the entire human race by means of ''genocide'' among other means ahead of the next war, and authorizing attacks on civilian targets to justify his efforts to re-militarize humanity is taking it to an all-new level.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: A ''very'' common complaint, particularly the name of the carrier changing from TCS ''Tiger''''s''' Claw'' to TCS ''Tiger Claw'' due to script editing confusion between editors for the film.

* ValuesDissonance: The pilots of the Claw make it a point to completely disavow the deceased upon the loss of a respected comrade, going so far as to say they never existed.

* TheScrappy: Everybody seems to hate Maniac (both in real life and in-universe)... [[CreatorsPet Except for the writing staff]], since of all of the cast members who get KilledOffForReal, Maniac -- the most likely candidate given his rank, status, and [[LeeroyJenkins reckless behavior]] -- isn't one of them.

[[AC:Wing Commander Academy]]
* FoeYay: An occasional element of Maniac and Archer's UST.
* SpiritualAdaptation: Of Universal's previous sci-fi cartoon, ''WesternAnimation/{{Exosquad}}''; indeed, USA Network aired reruns of that show the same time they were airing this one.
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: In comparison to the live-action film (see above), this show is well liked primarily because it's ''incredibly'' accurate to the games (albeit with stuff changed due to being a PragmaticAdaptation).

* HilariousInHindsight: Blair in the video games was portrayed by Creator/MarkHamill, best known for playing a [[Franchise/StarWars Jedi]]. Blair in the film is played by Creator/FreddiePrinzeJr., who would [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels go on to play a Jedi]].

* WTHCastingAgency: Creator/FreddiePrinzeJr, Creator/MatthewLillard, and Creator/SaffronBurrows as Blair, Maniac and Angel respectively. Few found them convincing in their roles, especially when measured up against their video game counterparts. The years since have seen Prinze's casting looked back on a ''little'' more kindly, with many now agreeing that he might have been a good choice had the film been produced a decade or so later, but that the role came a little too early in his career for him to do it justice.

* WTHCastingAgency: Freddie Prinze Jr., Matthew Lillard and Saffron Burrows as Blair, Maniac and Angel respectively. Few found them convincing in their roles, especially when measured up against their video game counterparts.

** The Emperor of Kilrah had his own son executed right before him for the loss of the weapon that destroyed the Goddard colony. [[LaserGuidedKarma Don't feel too bad for him though, as he was the one to pull the trigger in the first place]].

** Josh Lucas and [[Creator/FrancoisChau François Chau]] in ''Wing Commander III'' (and ''IV'' in Chau's case)

* SpecialEffectsFailure:

* SpiritualLicensee: To Universal's previous sci-fi cartoon, ''WesternAnimation/{{Exosquad}}''; indeed, USA Network aired reruns of that show the same time they were airing this one.

** No less egregious is Maverick being wrongly charged with treason in the second game following the loss of the ''Tiger's Claw'' to Kilrathi stealth fighters, which without flight recorder evidence was a story High Command was not willing to even consider as remotely possible. It's a denial they stuck to for a ''full decade'' until it was discovered that a human traitor had set Maverick up as the fall guy for the attack.

** Hey, it's [[Series/{{LOST}} Dr. Pierre Chang]] flying under the callsign "Vagabond"!

* ExecutiveMeddling: Unusually, a case where some executive meddling would have made the film ''better.'' [[WordOfGod Roberts]] later said that in hindsight, he wished he'd had an executive producer who could have told him the elements of the film that were distracting from the core story and needed to be removed, especially on the tight budget ($27 million, expanded to $30 million after Roberts kicked in an additional $3 million out-of-pocket).